5th Predule Graduation

October 11, 2007 at 5:05 AM

Bach's 5th Prelude has recieved it's seal of approval from my teacher and will get one final polish put on it next week. The accidental "Mendy's Ornament" is now a permanent part of this piece for both me & my teacher. It really DOES sound nice and fits in with the style of the piece. I've played this over and over so many times, that I've practically memorized the whole movement (and not just the notes). For me, this is an amazing feat considering that it is 4 pages long!

The week after next, we move on to the second movement - Allemanda. It has much of the same feel to is as the Prelude but with much more ornamentation. I wonder if there are any accidential ornaments waiting to appear in this movement :)

I'm really enjoying learning the Suites with the Peter's edition. Working with a "blank slate" (no dynamics, fingerings and very few bowings written in), there are no hard-fast rules other our own intrepretation on how to play the Suites to hold me back on expressing myself musically. Under my teacher's guidance, I've learned how to apply the dynamics and different techniques to achieve the tone we want without having to stop and try to apply someone else's interpretation (or change it)other that what we write in. I can see the patterns in the different phrases to the point where I now truly understand what a "musical phrase" actually is and how to have fun with it.

I'm learning some music theory as well at the same time - you should see the margins of my sheet music! Definitions of different intervals, ornaments, bowing styles, and so on fill the pages of my music where there isn't music already printed. I never took a music theory course in my life and couldn't tell you what the difference was from one scale to the next until recently. I must say, this manner of learning theory is much more fun and easy than trying to learn it from a dry and boring textbook and hours of lectures. For you fellow adult beginners, I highly recommend this method of study.

>I'm learning some music theory as well at the same time - you should see the margins of my sheet music! Definitions of different intervals, ornaments, bowing styles, and so on fill the pages of my music where there isn't music already printed. I never took a music theory course in my life and couldn't tell you what the difference was from one scale to the next until recently. I must say, this manner of learning theory is much more fun and easy than trying to learn it from a dry and boring textbook and hours of lectures. For you fellow adult beginners, I highly recommend this method of study.

Hey, cool! But as for the "fellow adult beginner" business? Give me a break! I'll show you what a REAL adult beginner looks like! : )